Always the same
by pagman
Summary: Grissom is affected by a case. GSR.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: CSI is not mine. No amount of dreaming will allow me to own it. These characters have been borrowed temporarily and no matter how much I borrow them I still don't own them.**

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What interesting metaphor or proverb could Grissom use to describe the scene if front of him? Not a single Shakespeare quote seemed to fit, nor did any ancient Chinese proverb that he could think off. He was never good in situations like this and making some off hand quote or comment by someone much more famous than he was his way of dealing with the situation. On occasion his façade would crumble, his crew had seen it before, but he was always determined to be as detached as possible.

"What you got Gil?" asked Brass, Grissom's long time friend.

"I recognize the victim," was his only response as he went to inspect the body more closely.

"I'm glad you do. If you didn't we most likely would have to pull you in for physiological evaluation." It was a joke but Grissom didn't laugh. Brass continued, "Son of wealthy Vegas entrepreneur Tom Banks. The family reported him missing 2 days ago." As a sort of afterthought he added, "He's only 6."

Grissom just shrugged his shoulders. Why did he have to be so young? This was going to be a long night.

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"Poor kid was strangled to death. His trachea was crushed. TOD to hard to establish, not much help sorry," Doc Robbins reported

"Are those defensive wounds on his hands?" asked Sara.

"Yeah. Kid fought back. Found skin cells under his nails as well." Doc Robbins showed the vic's hand as if for effect. "I sent a sample to DNA. Let's hope we get lucky."

"Thanks Doc." Sara turned to leave expecting Grissom to follow her. When he didn't she got concerned. "Grissom, you're coming right?"

Grissom jumped. Slightly flustered he managed to say, "Yeah."

Sara could tell something was wrong with Grissom. He always seemed to get emotionally involved when kids were concerned and this was no exception. She wanted to confront him about what was wrong then be there to comfort him like he had for her so many times before.

"Grissom," Catherine's shrill voice broke Grissom and Sara's companionable silence. "We may have caught a break in the case. Archie thinks he may have something."

When Grissom and Sara arrived the entire team was crowed around Archie's small desk their eyes gazing up at the screen expectantly. A case this big meant a lot of pressure from the Sheriff and that meant everyone working the case until it was solved. If it could be solved…

Archie, not used to all the attention, was quite pleased to have gathered such a crowed around him. He cued the video footage he wanted everyone to watch. "Now watch carefully." he said. "It's pretty fast."

The tape played through once. When Archie saw that everyone had confused looks on their face he played it again. "Did you see it this time?" he asked.

"No," said Catherine. The blank faces around him told him that everyone shared the same sentiment.

"Watch very closely." Archie said. "You'll want to be looking in the right hand corner of your screen." Archie hit play and the footage played again.

Greg's eyes lit up. "I see it!" he exclaimed.

"Would you mind telling the rest of us Greggo?" asked Nick.

"It's the car," his excitement coming through in his words. "Witnesses remembered a dark colored, maybe blue or black, car driving away from the scene fast. We were never able to pick it up on traffic cams but here it is, in all its glory!"

"We're very lucky," Archie began. "I managed to pull a license plate number from the picture. Brass is bringing him now."

There were congratulatory slaps on the back from Nick, Warrick, and Greg while Sara and Catherine smiled in appreciation. Grissom remained silent. They all walked out. It may be too early to celebrate but a cup of coffee in the break room sure seemed like a good idea at this point.

Brass walked in an hour later looking very somber. "It's over. The guy confessed. He was hoping to get a ransom for the kid instead he used to much force trying to stop him screaming." Brass slumped into the closest chair.

They all sat in the break room for a long time after that. There was no use pretending they weren't human. Every so often there would be one case that had the power to affect them all. This was one of those cases. They followed the evidence trying to find the kid alive then they tried to find a killer. That was over now.

Slowly, one by one, everyone began to leave and return to their semi-normal life. Catherine was the first to leave, most likely going home to see her daughter. Warrick was next, followed by Nick and Greg together. Finally Brass left and it was just Grissom and Sara sitting together.

Words were not right in this situation to comfort Grissom. He had been close to catatonic since the body was discovered. He was a mere shell of what he usually was.

"Grissom," Sara said softly breaking the silence. "I think it's time we go home."

Grissom mumbled something incoherent and Sara walked over to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder to comfort him she used her other hand to take his own. "Let's go home," she mumbled into his hair. It was at that moment Grissom broke down and began to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

Shit and fuck were both perfectly apt words to use to describe the scene currently in front of Sara. To see Grissom reduced to tears made her own eyes slightly wet. Sara knew Grissom well enough to know that the last thing he would want would be for someone to wander in the break room and see him crying.

Grissom was holding onto her hand like it was his lifeline between life and death. Keeping this in mind Sara was careful not to lose that contact and slowly encouraged Grissom to stand up. Still holding his hand they slowly walked down the hall to his office together.

Sara wouldn't like to admit it but she was paranoid. Paranoid that Ecklie would take this opportunity to walk into the lab and bust them for their relationship. Trying to explain why she was holding her supervisor's hand might not be the easiest thing in the world to do.

They reached Grissom office and Sara locked the door. As was customary in Grissom's office the blinds were pulled and the only light was coming from a lone desk lamp. Emotional situations were never Sara's strong point so she held Grissom while the silent sobs racked his body. As the tears streamed down his face, wetting his beard, Sara continued to hold Grissom it was her silent way of acknowledging that she would always be here for him.

When Grissom appeared to be out of tears and the sobs stopped Sara raised her head from his chest to look him in the eyes. His eyes glistened with tears but he seemed more functional than he was mere minutes before. Grissom broke the embrace that moments before was the only thing keeping him sane and walked over the chair behind the desk.

Not knowing whether to follow or stay where she was Sara stood awkwardly in the middle of Grissom office. Fortunately Grissom motioned for Sara to join him and she wasn't standing alone for long. Sara sat down on Grissom lap and curled up, resting her head on his chest. It felt wrong for Sara to be in this position, it was almost as if he was the one comforting her, not the other way around as it should be.

"Grissom," she began but she didn't get to finish her sentence.

"Let me apologize Sara for my," he paused as if considering his next words carefully. Not finding his last sentence satisfactory he began again. "Sara I want to apologize for my emotional outburst earlier. It was inappropriate and you should have to cover for your supervisor like that."

"It's not the first time." Sara regretted the words as soon as she had said them.

"I deserved that for my choice of words," was all Grissom said.

"You shouldn't have to apologize for something like that Grissom. You cried, it's as simple as that. You acted human, we all do it. Not even you are above all emotion." Sara hated that Grissom felt the need to apologize and explain all his actions to her. She loved him and he should know that that was enough. She had seen many things from Grissom and to see him reduced to tears for no apparent reason just reinforced that love. She only now had to explain it to Grissom. Grissom may have been many things but he was still a man and men didn't like to be caught crying by their girlfriends.

"I do. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. That scene before was completely out of line. I shouldn't have cried like that, we caught the guy, I should have been happy. We all worked hard on that case and we got the result we wanted in the end. I won't admit that I didn't get personally involved in the case and no matter how hard I try I wanted to get justice."

"Grissom I know that there is still so much that I have to learn about you. I think that what I saw today was one of those things. I've never pretended to understand some of the things that you and when you do shed some light on them I hope that it's not in your office." She paused to shift her weight in his lap and drape her arm more comfortably around his arm. "If you want to explain something to me let's go home and have breakfast then we can talk."

Grissom put on his bravest face. He had come close to telling Sara some of his darkest secrets but she had fortunately saved him from that embarrassment. "Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you outside the lab in 10 minutes."

Sara squeezed his hand reassuringly and slowly walked out of Grissom office. Embarrassment was still a possibility.


End file.
